Day 3
New Mexico is beautiful! Drove from the foothills into the lower mountains and on into the big daddies. Enjoying winding roads, gorgeous views and the occasional prairie dog sighting. Ate a delicious lunch at Orlando's and then found an isolated, but surprisingly amenity filled camp site near the Little Arsenic trail head. Beautiful hike down the gorge to the confluence of the Rio Grande and Red rivers. Cooled off in the ice cold water and relaxed on the rocks before starting the much more challenging hike back up to camp. Celebrated with a nice cold G' Knight growler, broke in our new camp chairs, and enjoyed complete privacy, a breathtaking sunset over the gorge and dream team company. Definitely qualifies as a peak day in my book. As far as wildlife goes, no snake sightings, no scorpions, no spiders...just a bunch of hawks playing on the air currents, the occasional ant, a deer as we pulled out of camp in the morning and - oh yeah, the UFO. (Remember to click on any photos to zoom!)
New Mexico is beautiful! Drove from the foothills into the lower mountains and on into the big daddies. Enjoying winding roads, gorgeous views and the occasional prairie dog sighting. Ate a delicious lunch at Orlando's and then found an isolated, but surprisingly amenity filled camp site near the Little Arsenic trail head. Beautiful hike down the gorge to the confluence of the Rio Grande and Red rivers. Cooled off in the ice cold water and relaxed on the rocks before starting the much more challenging hike back up to camp. Celebrated with a nice cold G' Knight growler, broke in our new camp chairs, and enjoyed complete privacy, a breathtaking sunset over the gorge and dream team company. Definitely qualifies as a peak day in my book. As far as wildlife goes, no snake sightings, no scorpions, no spiders...just a bunch of hawks playing on the air currents, the occasional ant, a deer as we pulled out of camp in the morning and - oh yeah, the UFO. (Remember to click on any photos to zoom!)
Chillin'
View from our campground
Tarah hiking down in the valley
View from our tent
Sarah taking in the Rio Grande
Enjoying the night life!
Sarah waking up
Day 4 - above the Rio Grande. Elevation: 7,500 ft.
Woke up with the sun this morning, a little cold, but nice and comfy cozy thanks to the queen air mattress. Broke camp ahead of schedule and hit the road at 7:35 am. Stopped for coffee in the middle of nowhere and found Stone IPA...what are the odds? Spotted a cluster of Earthships. Wove in and out of Carson National forest. The topography continues to change quite a bit, from mountains to forest to desert. Have been in the desert now - Navajo Nation - for a few hours. Stopped in a shaded park for a nice picnic lunch and are well underway to Monument Valley. After many hours in the desert we arrive at The View hotel in Monument Valley, which is more than living up to its name. We just realized it looks vaguely familiar - most likely because all kinds of epic movies were filmed here, most notably numerous John Wayne classics, Easy Rider, Thelma and Louise and National Lampoons Vacation.
View from our balcony
